User blog:SalemtheCruel/One Year

I can't believe it's been a whole year now. 365 days since we lost one of the world's greatest YA/children's authors, Brian Jacques. Now I've been a fan of Redwall since around 2001, when I was a little girl watching the Redwall TV series. Redwall was so much to me back then; greater even than candy and dinosaur stickers.

But as time passed I gradually fell out of Redwall. I began to forget about it. But in March of 2010, when I saw the Firebird editions of Redwall, Mossflower and Mattimeo at Borders and reluctantly bought them.

Suddenly it was 2001 all over again. I became obsessed with Redwall and even started my first fanfiction that month.

I still remember what I was doing when I found out about Brian's passing. It was a normal day. I'd come home from school, gone on YouTube and started watching the Redwall TV series and listening to death metal. While listening to Iron Maiden's song Powerslave, I suddenly began wondering if Brian had a Facebook page.

I didn't find one, but I did find some information on Facebook about 'the passing of Mr. Jacques' And suddenly my mind went numb. It was like someone had hit me in the stomach with a sledgehammer. I panicked and desperately clung to the thought that someone had made a sick, sick mistake and ran to BJ's wikipedia article. And there it was: June 15th, 1939-February 5th 2011. That day was February 11th.

I was 6 days too late. And I had planned to write him!

I ran up the stairs to my room and began to cry uncontrollably. I began rocking one of my model horses, either Matthias or Slagar (Yes I'm such a Redwall geek I name my model horses after Redwall characters X_X) and cried more. Eventually I stopped crying and had to go downstairs for dinner. Not surprisingly, I barely ate anything that night.

Redwall has always held a very prominent meaning in my life. It was my nirvana when I was in preschool, and it continues to be today. It carried me through a year and a half of intense bullying and I still can't get enough of it today.

I know that there are some on here who think I'm overreactive and whiny. PLEASE don't bring that up in the comments because this isn't about me. It's about Brian; and how much he changed my life. So let's have a moment of silence to remember one of the greatest authors in the 21st century. May he forever rest in peace.

BJ Memorial